Monday, October 7, 2013

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Anna Sasson smothering an early breakaway that was a turning point in Indian Hills' 2-0 win over Westwood in the opening round of the Bergen County Girls Soccer Tournament.

OAKLAND – When the brackets were released for the Bergen County Girls Soccer Tournament, the Indian Hills players were far from disappointed even though they were in the double digits. One win would mean that the Braves would have a chance to dull the sting of an early season loss to Ridgewood, the No. 4 seed that likely would be waiting in the Round of 16. After taking a 7-0 beating at the hands of the Maroons, Indian Hills would relish another shot at the highly-regarded program.

However, the Braves had a hungry Westwood standing in between them and a return date with the Maroons. Indian Hills was put on notice early that Westwood had no intentions of bowing out without a fight. If the Braves were going to get that coveted shot at Ridgewood, Westwood was going to make them earn it.

Anna Sasson made a breakaway save just over two minutes into the game and sweeper Julia Collins moved into the attacking third and scored off of a corner kick with three minutes remaining in the first half as Indian Hills survived a tough battle to advance to the second round of the Bergen County Tournament with a 2-0 win over 20th seeded Westwood on Saturday in Oakland.

“We made some changes early on the season and it’s starting to pay off now,” said Indian Hills’ head coach Jim Loudon. “Our chemistry has been beautiful lately and it’s showing in our play on the field. We got tested a few times during the game, but we hung in there. We try to get as many corner kicks as we can because we’re so dangerous from both sides. It was a big goal before the half, too. Against a team like Westwood, the longer they can stay in it the more confidence they have. Then it becomes anybody’s game in the second half.”

Senior Amber Hermmans was all over the field for Westwood, which generated plenty of chances.

Before either team could even get warm, the Cardinals nearly turned a fortunate break into a lead. Collins mistimed a high bounce on a long ball and speedy Westwood striker Victoria Binetti ran onto it for a breakaway. She got off a hard shot but it was right at Sasson, who dropped down to make the save.

“I made a mistake and it almost was a big one,” said Collins. “(Sasson) saved me and that whole play woke all of us up. We knew they were going to fight for every ball, we had to do the same thing.”

Indian Hills seized control of possession, but scoring was hard to come by. The Braves had four first-half corner kicks and nearly scored on all of them. Westwood’s Mckenzie Knapp cleared a ball off the line on one and Collins headed a ball just over the crossbar on another. Just when it looked like Westwood would escape the half in a scoreless tie, Collins ended up in the right place at the right time. Off a line-drive corner kick from Lilly DeMartino, the ball rattled around in the box before Collins squeezed between two Westwood defenders to knock it home and put the Braves in front, 1-0, at halftime.

“I just saw the ball come free and I had to get to it,” added Collins. “Whatever it took, I just wanted to get any body part on it and put it in the net.”

Indian Hills caught a huge break and padded its lead when Westwood accidentally kicked the ball into its own net for an own goal, which made it a two-goal lead.

The Cardinals did not give in though and had numerous quality scoring opportunities in the final 30 minutes. Sasson (six saves) made a pair of diving stops and defender Kelly Vincent made a huge play to preserve the shutout. With nine minutes go, Binetti poked a through ball past Sasson and into open space with no one in net, but Vincent raced back and shielded Binetti off from being able to tap it in.

Julia Collins scored the game's first goal and then helped Indian Hills seal the win on the defensive end.

“Our girls played their hearts out, we just couldn’t get one in the net,” said Westwood head coach Eric Pfeifer. “I thought we went after every 50-50 ball and won most of them. If we scored on that breakaway early, it could have been a different game. That second goal definitely hurt us, but we never stopped pushing forward. We created chances, (Sasson) made some big saves against us. I’m very happy with our effort though and our future is bright here.”

With the win, Indian Hills is now .500 for the first time all season at 5-5. Senior captain Amber Hermanns was all over the field for Westwood, which is also 5-5. Hernandez and Miranda Boes each registered one save.

After almost looking too far ahead, the Braves can finally look forward to their showdown with Ridgewood in the Round of 16. After being flat-out embarrassed in the second half in their previous meeting, the Braves are looking to show that the team Ridgewood saw a few weeks ago is not the same one it will see next Sunday.

“We couldn’t wait to play Ridgewood again since that first time we got killed by them,” said That Ridgewood loss was really a ‘wow’ moment for us. We could either accept we were going to have a bad season or we could step up and become better every day,” said Collins. “We’re a really close team and we all push each other. The first time we played them, we put our heads down once they scored in the second half to make it a three-goal lead. We’re a more confident team now and we’re excited to get another shot at them.”

CLICK HERE FOR MORE PHOTOS FROM THIS GAME.
TO BUY A COLLECTOR'S PRINT OF THIS STORY, PLEASE VISIT 4FeetGrafix.com.